Soundman2020 - Studio Design Forum

When I have the time, I'll be putting together a page in this section of the forum, with several studios that I have designed, but for now, here's a link to one of my favorites:

Studio 3 Productions, Missouri, USA.

News report about the studio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjRhalcAlGY

Photos of the studio:













Frequency response in the control room (full spectrum):


Frequency and phase (low end: 20 Hz - 350 Hz):


Decay times "RT60" full spectrum (50 Hz - 12 kHz.):


Spectrogram (low end: 20 Hz - 350 Hz):


Waterfall - full spectrum (20 Hz - 20 kHz.):


Waterfall - zooming in on just the low end (20 Hz - 350 Hz):


The difference between the left and right channels, at the mix position (less than +/-1 dB):


Download the complete acoustic test report for the control room, showing comparisons between the response in the original empty control room, and the final finished, tuned control room: Studio 3 - Final Acoustic Test Report


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(More studios to come...)

Wow, I do love the design of this one, each room has it's purpose and the acoustic treatment seems to have massive aesthetic appeal and purpose.

Purelythemusic wrote:Wow, I do love the design of this one, each room has it's purpose and the acoustic treatment seems to have massive aesthetic appeal and purpose.

Thanks, Tom! I'm not sure if you can see it, but the inspiration for the Control Room design is an eagle in flight. Imagine that you are looking up at an eagle as it flies overhead... (OK; so lots of imagination is needed! )

There's also lots in there that you can't see at first glance, such as the storage area and machine closet built into the ends of the soffit wings, and the slight downward tilt of the entire front wall (4.3°, aprox., if I recall correctly), as well as all the tuning in the front wall and side panels... plus the major bass trapping! There's many, many, many cubic feet of insulation up there in the ceiling area, hidden from view...

Maybe one day I'll persuade the studio owner to post some details of the construction.

- Stuart -

2021 Footnote: Sadly, Studio 3 Productions shut down and went out of business recently.

It seems that the COVID-19 pandemic played a large role in that, unfortunately.

I'm so very sorry that happened to you, Rod! We had a blast building your place, and I know you turned out some really great music in there, over the years. I do hope you can get back on your feet, and have another studio, even better than this one was!

Soundman2020 wrote:Source of the post2021 Footnote: Sadly, Studio 3 Productions shut down and went out of business recently.

That is sad. The video link in the OP makes it look like Rod and Blake had a similar dream that Rick Hall had in putting together FAME studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, some 60 years ago.

Starlight wrote:Source of the post The video link in the OP makes it look like Rod and Blake had a similar dream that Rick Hall had in putting together FAME studios

Yeah, I think it was something similar. They had their high-end clientele, of course, but a big part of what they wanted to do was to have a low-cost place for up-and-coming local artists to do their thing, record demos, get experience in recording in pro-level studios.

To add a bit of history here: Rod first approached me in late 2014, when he had already put up most of the interior framing, and just wanted me to design the front end of the control room. But he ended up getting me to do all of it. It was basically finished at the end of 2015, but we then spent several months on extreme fine tuning of the acoustics. He challenged me to get the response within the top 10% of the best studios around the world, and I do think we achieved that. There were hundreds and hundreds of REW tests done along the way, with many major and minor (and even very minor adjustments) done, both acoustically and also digitally. He really wanted it to be the best it could be, within physical limitations. There's a huge back-story behind this: all the stuff you can't see, behind the facades of the rooms. I have stacks of photos from all stages of the build, and I'll try to contact Rod and see if he'll allow me to post them here. It would probably be very useful for forum members.

Rod and I also got to be good friends along the way... even though we never, ever met in person! Rod is a really great guy, and I truly do hope he manages to recover from this major setback, and live his dream once again. (Rod, if you ever do read this, I also hope that you improve your taste in coffee!)

- Stuart -